I believe you are thinking of the 1980 novel "Dragon's Egg," by the
late Robert L. Forward.
Here is an excerpt from a review of the book:
"What if there were intelligent creatures on the surface of a neutron
star, one that's twenty kilometers in diameter with a surface
gravitation 67 billion times that of the earth? Forward thinks
through, in great detail, what such creatures and their history and
civilization might be like, and he tells a good story about the cheela
(as they are called) and their interactions with some human
explorers--interactions complicated by cheelas' and humans' vastly
different experiences of time. The book includes an illustrated
"technical appendix" about the neutron star, the cheela, and the human
spaceship (information extracted from the 2064 edition of a science
encyclopedia published by Random House Interplanetary)."
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/034543529X/qid=1037040679/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-3781554-8305755?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Here you will find a few more descriptions of plot details:
David Darling's Astrobiology Central
http://www.angelfire.com/on2/daviddarling/Dragons.htm
ReadLiterature.com
http://www.readliterature.com/TL-37.htm
Newgroup post
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=7ioq7k%244s7%40sjx-ixn10.ix.netcom.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
My search strategy was greatly simplified by the fact that I
recognized the plot of "Dragon's Egg" from your description. To find
online references, I used these search keywords:
Google Web Search: "dragon's egg" + "robert l forward"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22dragon%27s+egg%22+%22robert+l+forward
Google Groups Search: "dragon's egg" + "robert l forward"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22dragon%27s+egg%22+%22robert+l+forward%22&sa=N&tab=wg
If you enjoyed "Dragon's Egg," be sure to read "Starquake," its
sequel:
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595167489/qid=1037042164/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/102-3781554-8305755?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Thanks for asking a question about one of my favorite works of science
fiction! If, by any chance, this was not the book you were thinking
of, please request clarification before rating my answer, and I will
gladly resume the search.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |